"Welcome everyone!" Nick enthusiastically greeted the guests after they've grabbed platefuls of food and settled into their seats. The room was now packed, but miraculously—or perhaps due to precise planning—no one was left standing. "It's so great to see you all here for our annual Christmas Eve production of 'The Story of Sinter Klaas.' You can think of it as the first superhero origin story, if you will."

As the name left his mouth, Noelle had a "well, duh" moment. Sinter Klaas was Santa Claus before the moniker had become Anglicized. She felt so dumb for not putting that together.

"Now, some of you have seen this play before, while others are experiencing the tale for the first time," he continued, looking around the room before his gaze landed on Noelle for the final words. He smiled. "I'd ask you to hold your applause until the end, but the truth is, our actors think quite highly of themselves so they'll gladly accept your accolades. And with that said, let's begin."

He gestured toward the stage, where the curtains slowly pulled back to reveal a wintry backdrop. Stepping away, Nick returned to the couch next to Noelle and took her hand in his. She gave it a squeeze before making herself comfortable, drawing her feet up and snuggling against his side.

The pianist—who'd also returned to his instrument—began to play a haunting tune to accompany the flurry of fake snow that had started to fall over the stage. Noelle could practically feel a few degrees colder as the scene was set for a frigid winter's evening in the dark woods.

From stage left, four characters suddenly appeared, and Noelle almost burst out laughing. Although two were clearly supposed to be children (each holding a straw doll) and one a woman (wearing a flowing skirt), all had long, scraggly beards. They also had bulbous noses and pointy, knit caps, but Noelle had already recognized them as four of the gnomes she'd met the night before.

Quietly clearing her throat to gather her composure, she focused on the action. The travelers struggled against the blizzard, shielding themselves with their coats and scarves as they traversed among the bare trees. They appeared tired because one was always falling behind. When the howl of a wolf sounded, all four stopped in their tracks.

Noelle recalled her similar encounter in the woods outside the town two days earlier, letting her empathize even more with the weary characters. Her heart figuratively broke as they visibly trembled from fright when they slowly resumed their trek. But the wolf howled again. And unlike with her experience, in this story the animal—as a pelt draped over another tonttu—appeared on the right side of the stage, blocking the travelers' path.

The kids in the audience gasped and the travelers jumped. Scattering, they ran in different directions, and the wolf followed one. After a few moments of chaos, the children reappeared on stage. When they realized their parents had disappeared, they held each other and began to sob.

It had barely begun, yet Noelle already hated this play. It was making her immensely sad, and she wondered how anyone could think this was appropriate for Christmas. This was the time for stories of hope and cheer, not suffering and pain. But then, the tune of the music changed. It went from low and melancholy to high and joyful, accompanied by the tinkling of tiny bells. The lights went out before a single spotlight shone on a newly arrived figure standing in the center of the stage. Dressed in silver and white, she wore a glass crown on top of her knit cap and a large grin under her russet beard. The two lost children slowly approached this ice queen.

"That's Halla, the frost fairy," Nick whispered in clarification, as if reading Noelle's mind regarding the newcomer's identity.

With an embrace, Halla quieted the children's sobs before leading them off stage left. As the curtains closed, only the audience got to see that they'd left behind two bodies in the snow.

A brief period of rustling and clattering from behind the velvet drapes passed before they drew open again. The scene had changed. It was now showing the interior of a log cabin with a fir tree decorated with fruits, nuts, and ribbons alongside a roaring fire.

Tables were set for a feast, and the two children from earlier were now older as they stood as tall as the other guests. Everyone was either eating and drinking or singing and dancing. Everyone except a lone, sulking figure standing alone in a corner. He still held a straw doll in his hand like he had as a young child in the forest. Noelle was finally able to make out the shape as a goat.

The other child—now a strapping youth—still had his doll, too. But when he noticed a little girl crying by the tree, he gifted her the toy. She smiled in response, and upon her joy, Halla appeared. All the guests clapped except for the lone man in the corner. And when the frost fairy presented a fur-trimmed leather cap with a fluffy, white ball at its tip to the gift-giver brother, the other promptly tossed his straw doll into the hearth. The goat burned in flames of red and orange as its morose owner turned and left the stage.

The curtains closed once more.

All this had happened without any dialogue or narration, but Noelle felt as though she clearly understood everything. Sinter Klaas and his brother were orphaned as children, only to be saved by Halla, the frost fairy. Nick's father was a generous soul who gave up his treasured possession just to make another child happy, an act that Halla rewarded by gifting him the opportunity to continue the tradition one night a year as Santa Claus.

His brother didn't share the same noble trait, and Noelle hoped that the third act would explain his fate. She didn't have to wait long to find out.

The play resumed inside a child's bedroom, where a door on the far side was open just enough to give a glimpse into an adjacent living room holding a twinkling Christmas tree. A window in the rear showed it was snowing outside, while a young boy slept in his bed, unaware of a dark figure tiptoeing next to him.

"That's the Black Buck," Nick whispered, just as Noelle noticed the fake horns on the gnome's head. Taking a better look, she also saw that instead of shoes on his feet, he wore hooves.

"Is . . . is he part goat?" she hesitantly asked, finally seeing where this was going. Nick nodded in return.

Noelle wanted to ask more, but the action once again took precedence. The Black Buck carried a sack draped across his back, and after stopping at the foot of the bed, he reached inside the burlap. At the same time, another figure—seen mostly in silhouette through the open door, but clearly meant to be Santa—approached the Christmas tree. While the jolly man in red deposited a box topped with a bow under the tree, the Black Buck pulled a lump of coal out of his own sack. After gleefully tossing it into the sleeping child's boot, he also added a barren switch and exited stage right.

Thankfully, the story wasn't quite over.

The child's restless tossing and turning got Santa Claus's attention, and upon entering the room, he immediately recognized the telltale signs of his adversary. After removing the coal and twigs, he replaced them with chocolate coins and fruit. The child's slumber was once again restful, and Santa went quietly on his way.

As the music reached a crescendo, the audience burst into applause and the curtains fell closed. Only then did Noelle realize that tears streaked her face wet. The story's emotional rollercoaster had made her cry. After wiping her cheeks, she straightened up and looked at Nick.

"Dude. I thought my family had baggage, but I'm going to say that yours wins in that department," she said with a smile. "But your half goat uncle was clearly a metaphor, right?"

This was my #NaNoWriMo2019 project, but because November is always so hectic (seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to have NaNo this month?!) this story is spilling into December. No worries, since it's Christmas themed and it will definitely be finished before the end of the month. While I absolutely love all of my silent readers, I would LOVE to get your encouragement while writing this story. So please, please, please add it to your libraries, vote on the chapters (I'm striving for daily updates once again!) and leave me comments. <3